TAKE ACTION! Time Is Running Out For New England Groundfish

A short-sighted plan threatens New England’s coastal ecosystem, and you can help prevent its adoption. Thousands of square miles of protected waters could soon be subject to some of the most damaging forms of large-scale fishing, putting the recovery of cod and other struggling marine life in peril.

These areas were closed following widespread overfishing and the collapse of fish populations in the 1990s, and were intended to protect juvenile fish, spawning areas, and seafloor habitat. They also provide benefits to other species, including the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, endangered humpback whales, and harbor porpoises.

Now fishery managers want to open more than half of these sheltered zones—a combined area the size of Connecticut—to commercial fishing.

But many of these fish populations are still recovering from the lingering effects of decades of overfishing and habitat damage, and they face additional challenges, including warming ocean temperatures.

Removing protections will undermine nearly two decades of species and habitat recovery for a short-term financial payoff, with no long-term economic benefit for our coastal communities.

Please tell NOAA officials that New England’s iconic fish need protection now more than ever. Ask them to keep the groundfish closed areas intact and to improve habitat protection.